


(read aloud by the kitchen servants)

by chasindsackmead



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Epistolary, M/M, post-Inquisition pre-Trespasser
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-29
Updated: 2016-06-29
Packaged: 2018-07-19 02:40:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7341313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chasindsackmead/pseuds/chasindsackmead
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Amatus,<br/>I greatly enjoyed your last letter, as did the servants who stole it from my room and read it aloud to the kitchen staff..."<br/>(Dorian's gone to Tevinter and they don't have the sending crystals yet, so Leopold has to make do with writing letters.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	(read aloud by the kitchen servants)

Dorian, my love --   
  
Skyhold is incredibly dull without you. The worst of it is, Cassandra keeps giving me sympathetic looks. If Cassandra, of all people, is suddenly being driven to fits of empathy, my pining must be unusually obvious. Cullen hasn't said anything, but he keeps frowning when he looks at me, and opening his mouth as if he's about to say something. Then he reconsiders and asks me about the curtain wall, as if I knew the first thing about fortifications.  
  
You will be pleased to hear that I had a meeting with Fiona and Vivienne to discuss issues of mage governance, and it was entirely civil and nobody set anybody on fire. The College of Enchanters is going from strength to strength, and Vivienne's not pleased, because it's so dominated by Libertarians and Aequitarians that she has no chance of getting a foothold. Fiona likes it that way, of course. I think Vivienne underestimates Fiona. It's true that she made some dangerous decisions when she was in a tight spot, but to be honest I doubt that Vivienne could have done better. She would deny this to her dying breath, of course, and maybe even say something like "But darling, it hardly matters what I would have done in her place, since I would never be foolish enough to find myself in such a position!" Still, I think even Vivienne couldn't have manipulated that situation to her advantage, and all things considered I'm glad Fiona chose to shelter her people, even at the cost she paid, rather than leave them to the tender mercies of the templars. Even those templars who hadn't been fed red lyrium had lost any ability to see reason by the time of the Conclave.   
  
But there I go, talking politics again. I'm sure you get enough of that in Minrathous. You must tell me of your progress when you write next. I do think that what you are doing is terribly important -- perhaps even more important than your work with the Inquisition. You'll laugh to read that, I know. "More important than saving the world, amatus?" And what is more important than making sure there is something to save it for? What would be the point of saving the world only to leave it to the mercies of tyrants and fanatics?   
  
I do understand why I couldn't join you, although it hurts. It is an ache in me, always, the sense of you being far away, the knowledge that I will go to an empty bed at night and wake alone in the morning, that you will not be there to steal my tea at breakfast or critique my outfit or complain about the poor scholarship of the book I'm reading. We have had such lovely times, haven't we? We had so many hours to spend together, talking or working or making love or lying quiet in each other's arms. The memory of those times is all I have to keep me warm when I reach for you in the night and you're not there.   
  
Last night I woke in a great confusion, the Mark flaring in a way it never has done before unless I was near a rift. It's always affected my dreams, and when I finally got to sleep again, I dreamt of you -- so vividly, my love, and so intensely, that I forgot that it was a dream. You kissed me on the cheek and called me "dear fool", and I grabbed one of the straps on your tunic and pulled you in for a real kiss, and I could feel my insides melt. Then, with no transition at all (but one doesn't expect such things in dreams), we were naked in bed together, and you were trailing your fingers over every scar and mark and freckle on my skin, and all I could do was stare, stare, stare at your beautiful body that I haven't seen in months, and I felt shy, the way I did when we first made love. You seemed to notice, and you kissed me again, and said "No fear, amatus. I won't bite unless you really want me to." I told you I did want you to, and you gave me a sort of playful nip on the throat --  
  
\-- and then I woke up, before I could get to the good part.   
  
To the Void with dreams, Dorian. I want you so badly I can think of nothing else. Tell me we'll see each other soon.   
  
All my love,   
  
Leopold


End file.
